Amendment XXV
by Teri
Summary: Jack gets a very unusual job offer – an offer he doesn't want any part of, but can he really refuse it? [Early Season 8 – Complete]


**Amendment XXV  
**_A Stargate: SG-1 Story  
_by Teri

**_

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_**

Summary: Jack gets a very unusual job offer – an offer he doesn't want any part of, but can he really refuse it?

Notes: 1) Set in the beginning of Season 8 with a reference to President Hays' conversation with Vice-President Kinsey in Season 7's Lost City. 2) XXV means 25

Dedicated to: Sirius who enjoys politics and government and Paradigm Shifter who read a draft of this months ago (try nearly a year) and actually asked to see if finished. 

Disclaimer: Not mine, wish they were. I am not affiliated with the owners and creators of Stargate.

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"" XXV "" " 25th " "" XXV ""

"Oh, for crying out loud! You have got to be kidding me!" Jack stood up from his seat with a startle. This was the last thing he had expected when he arrived. He looked around the nice oval shaped office and not for the first time wondered it the walls were padded because everyone to ever grace this office had to be out of their minds.

"No, General. I am serious. Our nation, our planet, is facing a global threat whether they know it or not. You know this enemy." President Hays explained to Jack.

"Sir, with all due respect, not that this suggestion deserves respect. I may be flying a desk now, but I really don't think I'd fit in with the Washington set." Jack looked at a loss, "you can't really think I would be the right person."

"General," the President paused a moment deciding to approach this on a more personal level, "Jack, I think you're not giving yourself enough credit. You are an efficient and effective administrator. More importantly, you have a way of engendering loyalty from those around you, which is incredible and rare to find. You also have a unique worldview because of your time at the SGC. How could I not think you were the right guy for the job?"

"Sir, even if that were so . . . that is hardly the qualifications for this office," Jack argued.

"The qualifications are what I say . . . "

Jack cut the President off, "I'd foul everything up. . . "

"Worse than Kinsey?"

Jack gave him that one.

"Haven't you always thought the SGC should have a friend in D.C.?" The President pushed.

"We have you."

"Jack."

"And we can't forget about General Hammond or Paul Davis, good friends to have and wow both are in Washington these days. How do you like that, we've got lots of friends here."

"Jack, I want you."

"But, Sir?" Jack was getting desperate. He did not see a way out of this mess.

"I tend to get what I want."

"" XXV "" " 25th " "" XXV ""

"Sir? Is it true you are retiring again?" Sam asked as she approached the General. Daniel and Teal'c were close on her heels.

"Where'd you hear that?" Jack looked at his team with surprise. He had only been back on base for 20 minutes and that had included parking. How did they find out so fast? The only people who knew already were the President, his Chief of Staff, General Jumper, and himself. Heck, he doubted that Walter knew and that man always seemed to know everything. How could they know?

Daniel just gave Jack a look that said, 'are you serious?"

"Right," Jack shifted backwards, "base rumor mill. You know, half of what they say is wrong."

"Are they wrong this time, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked his tone subtlety implying that he did not believe the rumors to be false.

Jack looked at his team, his face looking dejected, "no, not this time." He ran his hand through his hair in an unconscious imitation of Daniel.

"Sir?"

"Why Jack?"

"Are you leaving of your own free will, O'Neill?"

Jack decided to answer Teal'c first. "Good question, T.!" He muttered "no" to himself before he spoke up for the others to hear him, "sorta, I am not being blackmailed into it, but I don't have a lot of choice in the matter either."

Jack looked at the faces of his team and realized they weren't convinced, heck, he himself was not convinced yet either. "As to Daniel's 'why,'" Jack actually started to grin a little in anticipation to their reactions to his little bit of news. He needed to get a little fun out of this, didn't he? "Ever hear of the 25th Amendment?"

Daniel's jaw just dropped as Sam tried to remember which one was the 25th from her political science class. It was never her favorite subject. The 25th? Was that the one that gave 18 year olds the right to vote?

"I have not heard of such a thing, O'Neill. The 25th amendment of what?"

Daniel started to sputter, "you, you have to be kidding Jack. I am jumping to the wrong conclusion, right? President Hays didn't ask you to be ---- he wouldn't. He couldn't. Did he?"

Sam tried to put together what she remembered and Daniel's ramblings, but the answer was not making any sense to her; Wait the 25th Amendment wasn't the one that gave 18 year olds the right to vote, it was the one that gave the President the power to . . . Holy Hannah that couldn't be right; however, as she watched the grin on the General's face she realized to her eternal astonishment that no matter how unlikely her conclusion seemed it appeared to be the right one.

"I have said '_I have not_,'" Teal'c repeated.

"Well, for those in the audience that don't know, I'll explain. I am retiring again – you know maybe I should call Guinness and see if there is a record for 'guy who retired the most times.' Ya think?"

"Jack, rambling!" Daniel said in the same tone Jack usually used on him, earning himself a glare from Jack.

"I am retiring again because President Hays has asked me to take Kinsey's job."

"He wants you to be the Vice President?" Daniel tried to clarify.

"Yousurebetcha!"

"Of the United States?" Daniel had to be sure.

"No, of the Ladies' Monday Afternoon Fine Arts League. Yes, Daniel, of the United States," Jack scowled lightly, but in truth was trying hard not to laugh at their reactions in so much as he agreed with them.

Daniel and Sam both just continued to gape at the idea.

"You will make a wise leader for your people, O'Neill."

"Well, nice to know someone trusts me. Thanks T.!" Jack said with a grin, as Daniel and Sam were still too surprised to say a word.

"" XXV "" " 25th " "" XXV ""

A week later, President Hays held a special press conference, which was carried on all of the major networks and the cable news channels.

The President was seated at his desk in the oval office as he began to speak:

"Good Evening, my fellow Americans. The Eighty-ninth Congress sent the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the states on July 6, 1965. It was ratified on February 10, 1967. Section 2 of this important amendment addresses vacancies in the office of Vice President. It reads: 'Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.'"

"In light of Vice-President Kinsey's resignation, it is my right under the 25th Amendment to nominate a candidate who I think would serve this administration and this country to the best of his ability. I have chosen a man who has dedicated his entire adult life to his country. He is a graduate of the Air Force Academy and a decorated a veteran of Vietnam and Proven Force. He is an experienced officer who is former member of Special Forces and now serves in the Air and Space Command where he has had extensive experience with interg. . . " He caught himself quickly from nearly saying intergalactic instead managing to say international, ". . . national diplomacy. He is a personal hero of mine. I'd like to present my nomination, the next Vice President of the United States, retired Air Force General Jonathan James O'Neill . . . "

_"Oh, for crying out loud . . . Do I have to?"_

Vice President Jack O'Neill? Odder things had happened, hadn't they?

"" XXV "" " 25th " "" XXV ""

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I hope you all enjoyed.  
Teri  
October 21, 2005 


End file.
